Conceptions and Sources
clearthatonlyworkwithacomputer—andperhapsnoteventhat—could
enablelexicographicalworkonLatin,andespeciallyGreek,todoanyjustice
totheever-growingvolumeofepigraphicmaterial.Theimmensebulkof
thecomputerindextoCILVI,containingtheLatininscriptionsofRome,
givessomeideaoftheproblemsinvolved.
Foranyseriousattemptatsocialorculturalhistorywenormallyrequire
(as will be stressed again later) a substantial concentration of documents
which can mutually illuminate each other. But it is preciselyon the mar-
gins—at the geographical or temporal limits of a culture orcivilisation—
thatthesingledocument,howeverslight,mayhaveadisproportionateim-
portance.Attheveryleastitmayallowthatformofreasoningwhichdeploys
adoublenegative—itwillshowthatitisnotthecasethattherearenoex-
amplesofxfromaparticulartimeorplace.Thatbeingso,theformofother
argumentsonlargerissueswillalsobeaffected.
Letmetakeafinalexamplefromanareamentionedseveraltimesalready,
Afghanistan. Asoka had at least two proclamations inscribed in Greek at
Kandahar.Coulditbearguedthathewasjustfollowingcontemporaryroyal
fashionandhadnorealGreek-speakingpublicinthelocalitytoaddressand
convince?No,becauseP.M.FraserhaspublishedafragmentaryGreekdedi-
catoryepigramfromastatuebaseinKandaharwhichdatestothefirsthalf
ofthethirdcenturyandindicatesthattherewasasanctuary(temenos)there,
andalmostcertainlyshowsthattheplacewasaGreekcityorsettlement(and
possiblyevenoneofAlexander’sfoundations).^31 Allthat,withconsiderable
consequencesforourunderstandingofthearea,canberevealedbyfourvery
fragmentarylinesofGreektext.
Ifwemovefurtherwest,anumberofsimilarexamplesofmarginalcases,
whereindividualdocumentsareofgreatimportance,canbetakenfromthe
earlyhistoryof Italy,which,becauseofnewarchaeologicalandepigraphi-
caldiscoveries,hasbecomeoneofthemostinterestingareasinthehistory
oftheancientworld.Itisperhapsworthpointingoutthatthedocuments
mentioned here, dating from between the late eighth centuryand around
,areinfourdifferentlanguages:Greek,Latin,Etruscan,andPunic.
.Averywellknownexample,‘‘Nestor’scup’’fromtheeighth-century
GreeksettlementontheislandofPithekoussai(Ischia)nearNaples.Thecup
hasthisnicknamebecauseonitsbodyarescratchedthreelinesofversein
Greek,writtenfromrighttoleftandbeginning‘‘OfNestorIam,acuppleas-
anttodrinkfrom.’’^32 Thecupandthegraffitoseemtobelongtowardsthe
. P.M.Fraser,‘‘TheSonofAristonaxatKandahar,’’Afghan Studies():.
. See,e.g.,L.H.Jeffery,Local Scripts of Archaic Greece(Oxford,),–andpl.
;MeiggsandLewis(n.),no..